Dev Jam #16 – Simmons on Cosmetic CPU & Taunts

COSMETIC CPU

For a long time now we’ve wanted cosmetic parts to be more widely used in Robocraft, aside from some very creative use of specific cosmetic parts to create some awesome looking artbots, they aren’t used as much as we’d like. So, we’re going to address that with some exciting changes to how cosmetics work in Robocraft with the introduction of Cosmetic CPU and Taunts (more on that later).

In our next update, scheduled for launch on Thursday 24th August, we’ll be adding a new Cosmetic CPU Pool into the game; here’s how it will work:

Every Robot will have a Cosmetic CPU Pool

Putting a single cosmetic part onto a Robot will remove 1 pFlop from the Robot’s Cosmetic CPU Pool

When the number of cosmetic parts added to a Robot exceed the available Cosmetic CPU Pool, the pFlops from the Robot’s regular CPU Pool will be used

Removing cosmetics from a Robot works in the opposite way. If cosmetics on a Robot takes more pFlops than available in the pool, Regular CPU is decreased. And only if no regular CPU is used for cosmetics, Cosmetic CPU is decreased.

The available Cosmetic CPU a Robot has will be displayed in the Robot Info panel in-game

So, how much Cosmetic CPU will robots have? Well this depends entirely on whether or not you have premium on your account.

Non-premium players will have a Cosmetic CPU Pool of 6 per Robot (this is enough for a complete mask)

Premium (but not lifetime) players will have 12 Cosmetic CPU Pool available to them

Lifetime premium players will have 24 Cosmetic CPU Pool

How does these different CPU Pools affect Robots uploaded to the CRF (Community Robot Factory)? Depending on whether a player has premium or not, players will see a different CPU for a Robot on the CRF.

For example: If a Lifetime Premium player uploaded a 2,000 CPU Robot equipped with 24 cosmetic parts, other Lifetime Premium players would see that as a 2,000 CPU Robot. Non-Lifetime Premium players would see it as a 2,012 CPU Megabot (as it passes through the 2,000 CPU threshold for Megabots).

With the introduction of the new Cosmetic CPU Pool we will be making some changes to how cosmetics work and how they’re obtained. We really want to make cosmetic parts desirable items in Robocraft; something that makes players go ‘yaaay’ when they discover them in crates.

All cosmetic parts (with the exception of League Badges) will no longer be forgeable

Cosmetic parts will only be obtainable via Salvage Reward Crates

Any Robots in the CRF that use unforgeable parts will not be visible to players who don’t have those parts in their inventory

All cosmetic parts (excluding specialty weapons and movement parts such as Carbon 6 variants and Bat Wings) will now have zero mass and zero health

I want to clarify that this change doesn’t mean the end for cosmetics in Robocraft; we’ll still be adding new and exciting Cosmetics to the game. Art Director Ric has a list of crazy cosmetics he’d like to add and we’ll reveal more about what those are closer to their release.

TAUNTS

With the introduction of the new Cosmetic CPU Pool mechanic we sat down as a team and thought about how we could make complete cosmetic masks more meaningful in Robocraft. We wanted players to embrace complete masks on their Robots and make them a fun and enjoyable part of the game. Also, with the removal of the forge for Cosmetics, we wanted to make them even more special when you obtained a complete set of parts to make a mask.

So, alongside the Cosmetic CPU Pool, we’ll be adding a new ‘Taunt’ VFX/SFX combo into the game. Every mask in Robocraft will have an associated visual FX and sound FX that is triggered via a keypress in battle.

The following masks will have unique VFX/SFX taunts:

Eagle Mask

Rhino Mask

Alienware Mask

Honeydew Dwarf Mask

OverWolf Mask

Ninja Mask

US Football Mask

Mech Mask

Scary Mask

Sabretooth Tiger Mask

Cockpit

Taunts can only be triggered if a player’s Robot has a complete mask that has been assembled correctly. When a mask has been correctly assembled, a visual FX will show in both the garage bay and Mothership.

In battle, a Robot’s taunt is triggered by pressing the associated key (Q by default)

When a taunt is triggered, the Robot’s mask will spawn its taunt effect and sound

If a Robot has multiple masks present, then one will be picked at random when a taunt is triggered

Alongside the awesome new visual FX, each mask taunt will play an equally awesome sound FX too. We’ve compiled these into a handy Soundcloud playlist and you can listen to them at your leisure.

We’ll have more information on all these features on Wednesday, when we release the full patch notes. Feel free to let us know your thoughts on the forums, reddit and Twitter. Catch you in-game!